What a fatuous statement:”We are all in it together” has turned out to be.

On Friday, this 76-year-old tried to visit his mobile phone supplier at Lakeside but the 370 bus route from South Ockendon turned out to be blocked by an articulated lorry straddling Stifford Road.

After leaving the bus, I decided to walk back to the village, which took me 35 minutes.

During that time 70 vehicles – mainly cars – passed me. Despite walking with the aid of a bright red stick and wearing a mask and a blue RAF beret, not one driver stopped to offer me a lift – something I always did if I saw an elderly walker struggling during the years when I owned a car.

The previous day, I discovered that Essex County Council had decided to go onto Tier Two of the so-called anti-Covid spread rules while Thurrock Council wants to remain on Tier One.

As I understand it, this means I can no longer visit my daughter in Wickford whose home is in the Basildon Council area.

There was one ray of light on Saturday when I eventually made it to Intu Lakeside.

Despite the no-deal rhetoric of bumbling and dandruff-prone Prime Minister Johnson, who is is in hock to unelected Brexiteers like the dangerous Dominic Cummings, a polite Polish electrician came to the aid of a Wilko store assistant and myself and found the correct bulb for the table lamp I was about to purchase.

When Scotland becomes independent, however, I will emigrate there as my paternal grandmother was a Stewart and after the antics of this inept Government, which has cost people their lives, I no longer feel proud to be English.

Although I still recognise the sacrifices made by my parents’ generation.

DAVID SAVAGE The Green, South Ockendon